Bill Maher's use of racial slur on HBO show draws criticism

Ben Stas for The Boston Globe Michael Che performed at the Wilbur Theater in Boston on Friday

Lamar Ellis
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04 June, 2017, 06:44

Bill Maher used the N-word on Friday night's episode of "Real Time", drawing outrage on social media.

The shocking incident unfolded during Maher's interview with Republican Senator Ben Sasse on his live HBO show "Real Time' on Friday night".

"Bill Maher made a decision to get on television last night and sanitize and normalize the n-word", civil-rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton said in his Saturday sermon in NY.

The Boston Globe reports (http://bit.ly/2rnajTP ) that the comedian and co-anchor of "Weekend Update" told an audience at the Wilbur Theatre on Friday in Boston that people were upset by the comments, adding that "when I say 'people, ' I mean 'white guys'". "We'd love to have you work in the fields with us".

Maher responded, "Work in the fields?" Sasse briefly kept quiet. "There are no explanations that make this acceptable", tweeted Deray McKesson, an activist and leader of Black Lives Matter. "We are removing his deeply offensive comment from any subsequent airings of the show", the statement read. Sasse, who chuckled at the comment, did not address it. Maher quickly asserted, "It's a joke". "I'm a 1st Amendment absolutionist. Comedians get latitude to cross hard lines". "Just because Bill Maher is liberal and our friend, you don't give him a pass. you never get the right to use that term". "You can not allow folk to act like there's anything amusing in that context about using that word".

"Free speech comes with a responsibility to speak up when folks use that word". It's therefore an attack on the American Creed. He has created controversy for his views on religion, particularly Islam, and lost his ABC show, "Politically Incorrect", after remarks he made in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away".

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